Kodály Today: A Cognitive Approach to Elementary Music Education (Kodaly Today Handbook Series)

Review

Reviews of the first edition:"An extremely valuable source for elementary music instructors, pre-service teachers, and methods teachers at the collegiate level. To say that Kodály Today is a thorough text would be an understatement. There are few Kodály-based resources that provide such a thorough overview of the philosophy behind the approach, a conceptual frame-work for teachers wishing to apply this philosophy, and detailed strategies for repertoire selection, curriculum development, and implementation."--General Music Today"The authors have developed a text that incorporates appropriate musical material and sound teaching strategies for presenting this material to students. Grade level goals, objectives, and strategies are outlined in great detail, and these materials would prove extremely valuable to a music teacher. I also appreciate the inclusion of learning theorists from the education community at large. All in all, this is a very practical text." --Brent M. Gault, Ph. D., Indiana University Jacobs School of Music"A mammoth undertaking and a welcome addition to the body of literature on the Kodály concept of music education...This is a book worthy of thorough study and use as a text...A valuable teaching resource that is highly recommended!" --Laurdella Foulkes-Levy, Kodály Envoy"This is an extremely comprehensive and exhaustive text which fills a gap in the current Kodály music teaching literature. It has enough information for an experienced teacher to improve their teaching and rethink their current teaching practices but at the same time manages to give the basic and necessary elementary knowledge a beginning Kodály teacher would need in their first venture into this type of music teaching. The relevance of the research undertaken by Houlahan and Tacka and the linking to current educational requirements and standards helps to bring this exceedingly valuable and successful method of music teaching into the 21st century." --Australian Journal of Music Education"This thorough, intensive and above all, elegantly practical approach to understanding and applying [the Kodály method's] tried-and-tested tenets will prove a boon to teachers and students alike...A clearly-signposted volume that succeeds in validating the self-enabling claims of Kodály's Method as an essential tool for teachers and their pupils. The inclusion of 140 pages of exhaustively detailed song lists and lesson and monthly plans is a reason in itself to buy this invaluable book." --Music Teacher"Kodály Today is essential reading for music teachers seeking an approach that will provide their students with lifelong musical literacy and musicianship, while nurturing their love for music. This book offers a powerful, layered approach to the developmentally appropriate teaching of music by presenting the Kodály method in a way that is usable and understandable by music teachers. Houlahan and Tacka render Kodály more relevant than ever by presenting vivid practical models for classroom teachers supported by research on cognition and learning. Teachers of music and the university professors who prepare them for their craft should find this book extremely valuable." --Eileen M. Coppola, Center for Education, Rice University"Kodály Today is an all-in-one helpful resource for both novice and experiences educators who use any pedagogical approach to teach music to children in Grades K-5, with additional advice for older beginners in upper elementary or middle school. Throughout the book's 600 plus pages, authors Micheál Houlahan and Philip Tacka provide foundational information on the philosophy and practice of the Kodály approach, and present their unique adaptation of the Kodály philosophy to music teaching. The authors suggest strategies to teach a song, develop music listening skills, build movement skills, and foster creativity ... The information abundant in Kodály Today will guide you to creating more meaningful and musical learning experiences for your students. Viva la musica!" -- The Orff Echo

About the Author

Drs. Mícheál Houlahan and Philip Tacka are co-authors of: Kodály Today: A Cognitive Approach to Elementary Music Education; From Sound to Symbol: Fundamentals of Music; the Sound Thinking Series including Music for Sight-Singing and Ear Training Volumes I & II and Sound Thinking: Developing Musical Literacy Volumes I & II; Zoltán Kodály: A Guide to Research; and numerous articles. Both have presented papers both nationally and internationally on aspects of music theory, music history, and Kodály studies and perception and cognition. They are faculty members for the Kodály Certification Program at Texas State University.